Picture
by FoxyWolfMeerkat
Summary: A bit of strong language, btw. Kaoru has a picture of himself, but it's not him. Kaoru is an only child, or at least that's what he thought.  If I tell you any more then the whole story is a bust, but fun to read for chills. sorta
1. Chapter 1

That picture. It looks like me. Please believe me, however, when I say that the person in that picture ISN'T me. Before I forget, my name is Kaoru, Kaoru Hitachiin. That picture is making me crazy, that is, if I'm not already. You see, sometimes, just sometimes, it'll move, and once I think I heard it talk. It said "Have you ever seen our birth certificates?" Just what did he, I mean it, mean by OUR? It's a picture, it doesn't have a birth certificate. Does it? AHH, no no no, I'm not going to start thinking that!  
I'm sitting on my bed, wondering if I'm losing my mind. From the corner of my eye I see that picture move again. It's constantly blinking, really! I swear! It moves again and I snap.  
"Will you quit it!"  
"Hmmm, quit what?"  
"Quit moving. Pictures don't move!" Shit, did… did it just talk, and did I just talk BACK!  
"Sorry. I'm not sure what it is though. I can't hold still. In fact… Why don't you try it?"  
"Shut UP! Pictures don't talk ether. Ever." I was staring at that picture, and it was staring back.  
"Well I'm talking, right? Never say never Kaoru."  
"Fine… Now what?" The picture paused to think, resting his chin in his hand, which before wasn't showing (The picture was taken from the shoulders up).  
"Well, for starters, my name is Hikaru. Also, I'm not you, I don't know who I am. Just that I look exactly like you." This seemed to trouble him.  
"You're Hikaru Hitachiin. I'm just guessing the last name, but, other then that, you know exactly who you are. After all you just said so, yourself.""Huh, guess you're right.""So anyway, what was it you were saying about birth certificates earlier?"  
"Oh, that… not sure. Just felt like saying it." Hikaru didn't seem to care about the odd comment, shrugging off any concern he had when he finished his 'explanation'. I sighed, I was talking to the picture, whose name was Hikaru apparently. Curiosity got the better of me and I got up and headed for the document room. I figured if bills and copies of hospital records were kept in there, my birth certificate would be in there too.

About an hour had past till I finally found it. I looked over everything. First Name: Kaoru. Last Name: Hitachiin. Sex: Male. This Birth: Twin was checked. If twin of triplet: First was checked. Twin, but… I looked and there was another birth certificate, the name on it; Hikaru Hitachiin. I felt nothing short of sick, how in the hell did I know NOTHING about this! Before today that is, and another thing… what happened to him? I didn't have to wait long, I looked down at the documents again and a death certificate met my view. I picked it up, afraid to what I'd find. Full Name: Hikaru Hikachiin, then I looked at the age, seven years. Seven! How did I not remember him! Finally, cause of death; Unknown. So… he just died? My stomach was incredibly sick and I felt weak in the knees, surely there was some sort of medical records. I dug past my own (The files weren't in alphabetical order oddly enough, were they hiding all this from me?) and found his. He started out alright, we were both very healthy at first, but as the years went by, while he didn't lose energy, his health went to the dogs. He died very sick, but with what, the doctors weren't sure. Was that why my, our, parents were so careful about my constant check-ups? I sat on the floor feeling numb. Why hadn't anyone told me about this, why didn't Hikaru, the picture Hikaru, remember any of this? Was he just a dream, something made up by the side of me that did remember my brother? I ran to my room, not bothering to put away any of the documents I'd dug out. I looked at the picture, to my relief he looked back.  
"Hikaru, were you ever alive, I mean do you remember ever being alive?"  
"Remember? Were you looking at birth certificates?"  
"Yeah... and some other things. Your name was there, Hikaru Hitachiin. It's crazy!" I still felt ill. The Hikaru in the picture of me closed his eyes, thinking.  
"Yeah… vaguely." He didn't open his eyes.  
"Hold on, I've got to ask m- our parents about this." I left for m- our parents quarters, getting the birth certificates, and the death certificate, first. As I walked I wondered, was Hikaru trapped in that picture, was he haunting me for forgetting. But if the former, wouldn't he remember being alive?


	2. Papers and Lies

"Mom, what's all this?" I kept my voice steady, I didn't want to yell at her. I figured she'd be guilty about not telling me, and sad about Hikaru, so she was the most likely to tell out of her and dad.  
"What's that my dear?" I handed her the papers, and saw the shock flood her eyes as she read what was on them. "Why were you looking though the documents?" Her voice was quiet, maybe because of the shock she was still feeling.  
"Just a random urge." It was true, only it wasn't my urge, it was the picture Hikaru's, then that spurred me on.  
"Kaoru, what's going on?" My father had walked in, I didn't normally talk to my parents much. That is, when something wasn't wrong, although things didn't go wrong very often. I held out my hand for the papers  
that were still in my mom's hands. She gave them up quickly, almost throwing them to me, as if they burned her.  
"This, this is what's going on." I handed the papers to my dad now, wondering if he'd say anything.  
"Hmmm, I didn't think you ever find these. Oh well, what do you want to know?""Why don't I remember him?" My mother choked a bit behind me.  
"Because when we separated you two, you were four years old, and because we lied."  
"Lied? How?"  
This time, mother spoke. "We said you'd made him up. That he was a figment of your imagination, that we'd been playing along all of four years, and that it was time you grow up. We told him the same thing, he didn't believe us, but after a while, you did."  
"How long did it take to convince me?" I had to know, even if I didn't want to hear.  
"You truly believed us in the same hour he died. Three years, four days, and nine hours." I was surprised that she knew it so well. I could only guess that it haunted her like nothing else in the world could. I didn't like it, I'd bought into that?  
"I was odd though, from when we separated you two, to when you believed the lie, you got sick too. We were worried we'd lose you both." Why dad felt the need to say this escaped me.  
"With the same thing?"  
"Yes."

Days when by, and I started remembering more and more about my brother. We did everything together, before whatever it was got a hold of Hikaru, we even got sick together. When he was put into the hospital and our parents started lieing to us, I'd isolated myself, refusing to play with any of the other kids or even talk to them. However, the day I believed their crap, I made a friend. That little girl, but she's moved away now. I have friends though, like Haruhi, she's nice enough, still, a bit to quiet for my taste.  
I was at the Host Club, although I wasn't taking any customers. Tamaki sometimes sent me concerned looks, but like the others, he was absorbed in what he was doing. I looked at an old picture of us, Hikaru and me. You'd never guess that he was sick, ill with his death. I hadn't been feeling very well myself, not sense I found out about him. I coughed in to my hand as a girl came up.  
"What's wrong Kaoru… AHHHH! BLOOD!" The girl fainted I stared at her for a moment before looking back at my hand. There was something dark, dark red in my hand, it was warm and wet. Yup, blood… I'd just coughed up blood…  
"What happened?" Tamaki had been over in a flash.  
"I think I should go to the hospital Tamaki." I kept calm, or at least calm on the surface, inside I was scared, very scared.  
While Honey and Mori escorted the guests away and apologized for the inconvenence or something like that, Tamaki fretted over me, and Kyoya called an ambulance. I coughed again, more blood and some kind of digestive fluid too. Haruhi didn't seem to know what to do, and looked just a bit scared, she looked how I felt to be honest.

Once at the hospital, I was told that this was how my brother's illness had started. I paused and found myself mentally asking, am I going to die?


	3. Sick

I'd been at the hospital for several days. They had yet to figure out how or why I had blood in my stomach. Honey guessed stress, Tamaki guessed heartbreak (I had to fight to keep from rolling my eyes), Haruhi didn't guess, she just brought me little gifts, flowers, get-well cards, the works.

I managed to sneak out of the hospital one day, and went to the nearest graveyard. Going through name after name trying to find Hikaru Hitachiin. Why hadn't I done this before?

Nothing, so I went to the next graveyard and so on till I happened to run into Haruhi at one. So we talked, I asked if she'd ever seen his name on any plaques or what, and of course she said no.

"Kaoru, you need to get back to the hospital."

"Not until I-"

"And if you don't come with me I'll call the others and we'll all make sure you get back to the hospital."

I froze up, it was the kindest threat I think I've ever heard. Giving up, I walked back to the hospital with Haruhi.

Sooner than later I was hooked up to everything again, feeling less like a patient at a hospital and more like an over-the-top science experiment. Which at this point is more or less what I was. Needles and tests and a few extra needles and chemicals. I was coughing up less blood than I had been at first, though I badly wanted to move more than I was allowed. I had energy, lots of energy and I needed to use it or I was going to go crazy. I had also started seeing things, but I kept my mouth shut about that.

After a while they just let me out. Told me to keep going to school, blah blah. I saw Hikaru nearly everywhere I went now, I would talk quietly to him when I could; but he didn't answer so much anymore. I tried to host, but in still being sick, most girls didn't stay long or just didn't come at all so that's when I spoke to Hikaru the most. I always ran to classes and home now, fidgeted during class, talked too loud, and did so wondering if the disease was making me use up all my calories and energy to make it easier to kill me. That didn't sound too crazy, right?

Over the next few days I couldn't sleep, and lack of sleep together with insane amounts of energy that certainly didn't belong to me led to hallucinate. There was Hikaru and the little girl who'd moved away, blurs of people I didn't recognise as well. Lots of noises, particularly talking when I was alone, but if I wasn't alone things got a little more demented. I found myself tip toeing around bodies that would disappear if I did touch them; once I got more used to it, it became easy enough to hide. I didn't want anyone to think I was sicker than I already appeared, particularly sick in the head. I had no interest in being drugged or locked up or anything else.

But as the weeks dragged on, I began wondering how long I could avoid that fate.


End file.
